State awards of Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala were awarded recently.

T. V. Santhosh has been awarded the Padmini award

R. Sivakumar has been awarded the Kesari Award

The Akademi fellowships for 2010, go to Riyas Komu and S. Ajayakumar

The Guild is pleased announce the participation of Vivek Vilasini in the exhibition titled
ATOPIA Art and City in the 21st Century at Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona.

The work Last Supper Gaza which was exhibited in ARCO Madris 2009 by The Guild has been selected for this exhibition.

A Place in New York

Navjot Altaf

A Place in New York

Reception with the Artist

Thursday February 18 – 07.00 - .9.00 pm

On view till March 8, 2010

The Guild Art Gallery is proud to present Navjot Altaf's research and interactive project titled A Place in New York.

Navjot was in New York on an eight week of residency programme – the outcome was an interactive project ‘A Place in New York – New York’, done shortly after she had exhibited ‘Bombay Shots’ at The Guild in Mumbai in 2008 and this project can be seen as an extension of that. Despite many political undercurrents, Navjot says that she finds both the cities have people from diverse cultures and backgrounds making these cities vital and dynamic.

“I am interested in the interactive and the dialogical process of art making, ‘Bombay Shots’ and my earlier work ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ helped me understand people’s reasons for migrating and their relationship / associations with the city and sites they relate to, visit or wish to visit, remember and like to be photographed with – in the process both the participant and the artist create a new dialogue and historicize such places.

My earlier visits to NYC for my exhibitions or otherwise usually took me to places of my own interest, which mostly included art museums, galleries, bookshops, performances, restaurants and studios of artist friends living in NYC in different parts and visits always seemed hectic in this gigantic, continuously building of upward grids and walking block after block to reach from subways to the chosen destinations… This time through the humane and physical stories narrated by the individual participants during our meetings and discussions and in the process of visiting and shooting the sites they said they relate to - sometimes I had to hunt for hours by following the road, bus and subway maps. Further by reading about the history, the planning of the city in the last 400 years, I discovered New York from a fresh and different perspective.

Apart from the visibility of the architecturally innovative and overpowering skyscrapers, the juxtapositions of old and new designs and the diversity which New York is generally known for; which I gradually started to keenly observe, and appreciate, is that nature is considered an integral part of plans and the development of the city. Open public spaces, playgrounds, riverside parks, botanical gardens, and waterfronts are accessible and lots of significant cultural events otherwise absolutely unaffordable for many take place in public spaces.”

Navjot was invited for 'Zones of Contact' Sydney Biennale, 2006. Her other recent participation/projects include; Lacuna in Testimony, Frost Museum, Florida; Public Places Private Spaces at Newark Museum, New York; Tiger by the Tail, Women Artists Transforming Culture at Brandies University/Museum Boston; 'Continuity and Transformation' Museum show, exhibition promoted by Provincia di Milano, Italy.

‘Groundworks’ Carnegie Mellon University, (RMG) Pittsburgh, U.S.A.; ‘Another Passage To India ‘, Theatre Saint Gervais and Musee d’ Ethnographie, Geneva.Switzerland; ‘Zoom –Art in Contemporary India’, Edificia Sede de Caixo Garal de Depositos, Lisbon.; ‘Century City’ - Bombay/Mumbai: ‘City Politics and Visual Culture in the 90’s’, Tate Modern London, U.K.; 'SubTerrain' Indian Contemporary Art, House Of World Culture, Berlin. Solo exhibitions include ‘Touch’, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai; ‘Bombay Shots’, an interactive photo based project, at The Guild, Mumbai; ‘Water Weaving’, video Installation, Talwar Gallery, New York, U.S.A.; ‘Junctions 1 2 3’at The Guild, Mumbai.

Navjot Altaf has been invited to present papers at various conferences/ seminars, for instance: 2005 ‘Shifting Paradigm’ Carnegie Mellon University, USA. ’How we know what we know’ Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Seminar during the First Asian Art Triennial-Japan.

www.guildindia.com

MUMBAI / NEW YORK

N a v j o t A l t a f - A P l a c e i n N e w Y o r k

N a v j o t A l t a f

A P l a c e i n N e w Y o r k

Reception with the Artist

Thursday February 18: 7.00 - 9.00 pm

On view till March 8, 2010

The Guild Art Gallery is proud to present Navjot Altaf's research and interactive project ‘A Place in New York’.

Navjot was in New York on an eight week artists’ residency – the outcome was an interactive project ‘A Place in New York – New York’, done shortly after she had exhibited ‘Bombay Shots’ at The Guild, Mumbai in 2008, this project can be seen as an extension of that. Despite many political undercurrents, Navjot finds both the cities have people from diverse cultures and backgrounds making these cities very vital and dynamic.

“I am interested in the interactive and the dialogical process of art making, ‘Bombay Shots’ and my earlier work ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ helped me understand people’s reasons for migrating and their relationship / associations with the city and sites they relate to, visit, remember and like to be photographed with – in the process both the participant and the artist create a new dialogue and historicize such places… The very process of engaging with the participants of this project in New York and the places that have special meaning and experience for them builds up another layer of memory – overlapping the earlier ones. Renewing with this revisit may be a different perspective of the city and life around it and building up complex relationships with the places. What it does is, build bridges towards understanding and documenting, to a certain degree the complex web of relationships of an evolving and ever-changing city, and its affect it may have on its inhabitants. It brings into focus the interdependency of the people and places, of how a city acquires a certain culture and character through its inhabitants and how the inhabitants co-inform themselves and get influenced by the culture. It is an ever evolving dynamic relationship - a culmination of collective forces that gets built up with an individual’s character and aspirations”. - Navjot Altaf

Navjot Altaf’s work has been shown in Zones of Contact, XV Sydney Biennale, Australia 2006; Lacuna in Testimony, Frost Art Museum, Florida, 2009; Public Places Private Spaces, Newark Museum, New York, 2008; Tiger by the Tail: Women Artists Transforming Culture, Brandies University / Museum Boston; Continuity and Transformation, Provincia di Milano, Italy; Groundworks, Carnegie Mellon University, (RMG) Pittsburgh, U.S.A.; Another Passage To India, Theatre Saint Gervais and Musee d’ Ethnographie, Geneva.Switzerland; Zoom – Art in Contemporary India, Edificia Sede de Caixo Garal de Depositos, Lisbon; Century City - Bombay/Mumbai: ‘City Politics and Visual Culture in the 90’s’, Tate Modern, London, U.K.; 'SubTerrain' Indian Contemporary Art, House Of World Culture, Berlin. Solo exhibitions include: ‘Touch’, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai; ‘Bombay Shots’, an interactive photo based project, The Guild, Mumbai; ‘Water Weaving’, Video Installation, Talwar Gallery, New York, U.S.A.; ‘Junctions 1 2 3’, The Guild, Mumbai among others.

Traversing Borders in Art

Traversing Borders in Art

Artists: Masooma Syed and Rakhi Peswani

Discussant: Amrita Gupta Singh

In association with Guild Art Gallery

Date: Monday, January 15, 2010

Time: 6.30pm

Venue: Goethe Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan

Masooma Syed received B.F.A in Painting (1994) and Masters in Visual Arts (2002) from the National College of Arts, Lahore. She is a recipient of CommonWealth Foundation Fellowship Award Art & Craft, 1996 and HAT International Research Fellowship, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England, 2007. She has taught in several design and fine arts schools across the world since 1996 and has participated in several group shows internationally and solo shows in Pakistan and Australia.

Masooma will present her works and also address the development of her art practice in dialogue with her contemporaries in Pakistan. Masooma and other artists of her generation shaped the face of the contemporary art scene in Pakistan and have succeeded in opening up a fresh chapter with the discourse of the local with the global. Her presentation will also emphasize on the concerns of academics, teaching art and/or practicing art in contemporary Pakistan. .

Rakhi Peswani has a Bachelor's degree in painting and a Master's in sculpture from M.S University of Baroda. Rakhi is a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award, 2007, presented by Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), Vadehra Art Gallery; Inlaks Scholarship in residence at Cittadellarte, Fondazione Pistoletto; Peers-2003 at KHOJ, Delhi. She has participated in selected group shows. Her solo shows include ‘Intertwinnings’ at Vadehra Art Gallery in 2009, ‘Sonnet for Silent Machines’ at Jehangir Nicholson Gallery and The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2007. Rakhi is currently teaching at Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad since 2004.

Rakhi is inspired by the chaotic maturity of Indian cities into metropolitans as they provide an abundant engagement with the visual. Her point of departure is to locate a visual / verbal / tangible language that blends the local character of our system and the global character of verbal language. The experience of fragmentation in the contemporary metropolis brings in the focus toward the processes of traditional crafts while allowing her to re-route the notion of oneself through the language of these processes. In her presentation, Rakhi will address these issues while talking about her art practice and its development over the years.

Tea/Coffee: 6.00pm – 6.30pm

The Guild is pleased to present an Open studio for students with the artists Rakhi Peswani and Masooma Syed.

The Guild is pleased to present an

Open studio for students with the artists Rakhi Peswani and Masooma Syed.

Students from the disciplines of sculpture, printmaking painting and photography can bring and show their works and have a general discussion with the artists. They can bring along with them some sketches, originals or images of their works if they desire so.

Date: 12^th and 13^th February 2010

Time: 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm

Venue: The Guild
02/32, Kamal Mansion, 2nd floor
Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba Mumbai 400005 INDIA
Tel: + 91 22 2288 0116 / 0195

Based in Hyderabad, Rakhi Peswani received her Bachelor's degree in painting and Master's degree in sculpture from M.S University, Baroda and is the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award, 2007, presented by Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi. She is working as a faculty at the S.N. School Fine Art Department, Hyderabad Central State University, Hyderabad, India.

Based in Pakistan, Masooma Syed received her Bachelor’s and Masters degree in painting from National College of Arts, Lahore. She is currently working as a faculty in the Indus Valley School of Arts, Karachi. Masooma has participated in a number of shows in Pakistan and internationally.

Ribbed Routes

G.R.Iranna

Ribbed Routes

THE GUILD MUMBAI 22 January – 15 February 2010

Preview: January 22, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

The Guild Art Gallery is pleased to present Ribbed Routes, a solo exhibition of recent works by G.R. Iranna at The Guild previewing on January 22, 2010.

“There are some pressing issues of our times that require our address. Questions of peace and the prevalence of violence as a form of dissent, any dissent, press on our consciousness and demand a response. The sculptural works by Iranna can be seen as a concerted and concentrated address of what should be society’s goal in the coming years, to work towards peace and harmonious coexistence. Iranna’s works are philosophical reflections, revolving around the interactions and explorations of a man’s inner world with the existential issues of today. Through his works he comments on human civilizational growth and its intrinsic follies consisting of aggression and ideological indoctrinations, violently inflicted upon human beings in the name of territorial growth. Iranna’s intention is to capture the trauma of human kind. His body of work is about despair but it is also about hope both nestled together in Pandora’s Box. “

(Excerpt from an essay by Deeksha Nath)

Born 1970 in Karnataka, Iranna obtained M.F.A. from Delhi College of Art. He has had several solo shows the latest being ‘Birth of Blindness’, The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi and Aicon Gallery, London and New York in 2008 and The Dance on the horse, Berkley Square Galllery, London in 2007. He has widely participated in many significant group exhibitions and workshops in India and abroad, including the India Art Summit, New Delhi, India (2009), Cultura Popular India y mas alla, la presidenta de la comunidad de Madrid Museum, curated by Shaheen Merali (2009), MiArt Fair 08, Milan, Italy(2008), Arad Biennale, Romania(2005), among others. Iranna is a recipient of National Academy award in 1997 and the M.F.Husain and Ram Kumar award. G.R Iranna has been nominated from India for the ABPF Signature Art Prize 08, Singapore Museum.

www.guildindia.com

MUMBAI / NEW YORK